1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a supporting device in accordance with the precharacterizing part of independent claim 1.
According thereto, the invention relates in particular to a supporting device for vertically supporting a coupling rod pivotably articulated vertically to a car body underframe of a rail-borne vehicle, particularly a railway vehicle, preferably by means of an elastomer spring linkage, wherein the supporting device comprises a support able to be brought into contact with the coupling rod and a mount connected to the support and able to be fixed to the car body underframe of the vehicle, and wherein the support can move relative to and in the direction of the mount upon the exceeding of a critical force acting on said support in the vertical direction.
2. The Prior Art
A supporting device of the above type is technically already known from the prior art, and in particular from rail vehicle technology. Such a supporting device thereby serves to vertically support a coupling rod pivotably articulated vertically to a car body underframe.
FIG. 1, for example, shows a perspective view of a supporting device 110 known from the prior art which is mounted to the car body underframe 60 of a rail vehicle by means of a bearing 111. This supporting device 110 serves to vertically support a coupling rod 51 which in the example depicted in FIG. 1, is articulated to the car body underframe 60 at its car body-side end region by means of a joint arrangement 50.
In detail, the joint arrangement 50 depicted in FIG. 1 is an elastomer spring linkage as described for example in the EP 1 785 329 A1 printed publication. Such an elastomer spring linkage 50 allows the horizontal and vertical pivoting as well as axial rotation of the coupling rod 51. By so doing, the coupling rod 51 can for example realize pivoting motions relative to the car body underframe 60 as occurs particularly when a train set negotiates curves. The coupling rod 51 can furthermore follow vertical deflections, for example to compensate height differences between two coupled car bodies.
An elastomer bearing is usually configured in the linkage designed particularly as an elastomer joint arrangement 50 which provides for elastomer spring elements serving to dampen the tractive and impact forces transmitted from the coupling rod 51 under normal driving conditions. As a rule, the elastomer bearing configured in the linkage is able to allow the operationally required pivoting angle for the coupling rod 51 of approximately ±6° in the vertical direction V and approximately ±15° in the horizontal direction.
The supporting device 110 serves to vertically support the coupling rod 51 which is articulated to pivot in the vertical direction V and others. Such support in the vertical direction V is particularly necessary in order to enable the proper coupling of two adjacent car bodies. In so doing, it needs to be ensured that the coupling rod 51 is always in the horizontal central longitudinal plane during the coupling procedure.
To this end, the supporting device 110 depicted in FIG. 1 comprises a support 112 in contact with the coupling rod 51 which is connected to a mount 114 by means of a support plunger 113. The mount 114 is connected to the car body underframe 60 by means of the above-cited support 111.
The supporting device 110 is an elastically-designed support in which the support plunger 113 is connected to the mount 114 by means of a spring element 115. The support plunger 113 and the support 112 connected to the support plunger 113 are pressed against the coupling rod 51 from below in vertical direction V at a certain pretensioning by the spring element 115. The pretensioning at which the support 112 presses against the coupling rod 51 is adjustable by appropriately selecting the spring constant for the spring element 115 and should be selected such that the coupling rod 51 is in the horizontal central position when in a non-operative state; i.e. when the coupling rod 51 is not subject to any dynamic forces in the vertical direction.
The mount 111 of supporting device 110, which on the one hand serves to hold the spring element 115 and the support plunger 113, and by means of which the support 112 can be pressed against the coupling rod 51 to be supported at a certain pretensioning on the other, is rigidly connected to the car body underframe 60 or the housing of the car body underframe 60 respectively.
A direct acting spring element 115 is normally used in the supporting device 110 known from the prior art and described above to vertically support the coupling rod 51. Accordingly, the vertical supporting force introduced to the coupling rod 51 from the support 112 is essentially determined by the spring force resulting from the elastic deformation of the spring element 115. In particular, the degree of elastic deformation of the spring element 115, and thus the resulting spring force resulting from the elastic deformation of the spring element 115, increases as the vertical deflection of the coupling rod 51 increases and acts as a supporting force to counter the vertical deflection of the coupling rod 51.
This linear connection between the spring action of the spring element 115 and the supporting force of the support 112 is particularly disadvantageous in those applications where the supporting device 110 is to support a coupling rod 51 articulated to a car body underframe 60 by means of an elastomer joint arrangement 50 in the vertical direction V. Since the coupling rod 51 is already partially supported in the vertical direction V by the elastomer spring element integrated in the arrangement 50 in a coupling rod 51 articulated to a car body underframe 60 by means of an elastomer joint arrangement 50, conventional supporting devices 110 in which the supporting force increases with increasing deformation of the spring element 115 incorporated in the supporting device 110, are too rigid. In other words, such a supporting device 110 hinders the coupling rod 51 from sufficiently pivoting in the vertical direction V relative to the car body underframe 60, in consequence of which increased forces can arise in the coupling rod linkage 50 which could potentially damage the linkage 50 and/or the car body underframe 60.